Archive - Nov 2009 - Blog entry

Let me put it more crudely. A senior portfolio manager in public markets once told me "when you're writing $100 or $200 million tickets to private funds, they all want to blow you."

Fiddling while Rome burns ...

That tax deal with Fannie that was recently leaked was actually old news. Fannie signed the deal prior to September 30. So why the recent press? Some one was trying to put some muscle on the "deciders' before the talks were made public. Is this that "opaque government" we were expecting?

We commented yesterday on the absurd (or threatening) hypothesis that the Fed would drain all $1 trillion in excess reserves by the end of March, 2010. Today, we reenter the fascinating world of JPM, Goldman and Pimco Treasury advisors, where inflation is relegated to a mere marketing device, and passing the buck to the last bondholder is a game unto itself.

In our latest piece (within a series of analyses that detail both the technical and fundamental landscapes of gold, silver, copper, oil, the CRB (Commodity Index), the US Dollar, the EURO and the remaining major currencies of the G8 in relation to one another), we at Fibozachi present an initial look into the technical composition of gold.

For a change, this week I decided to only comment on links that suggest that everything in the world is rosy and that the US is already in the middle of an impressively sound V-shaped recovery. Too bad I couldn’t find anyone who argued either of those points credibly. Oh well, guess everyone will have to settle for yet another dose of reality.

Riddle me this. An industry gets into trouble due to chasing fads, loading up on debt and overpaying for property. Many participants in said industry flirt with insolvency due to difficulty meeting debt service and asset values that have dropped below liabilities. This industry has been gifted with a special...

Many big hedge funds (and private equity funds) become asset gatherers, collecting 2% on huge assets. When you see more marketing personnel than investment professionals visiting you, pull the plug fast!

The history of mankind is dominated by politics. Since the early gathering communities until the present postmodern political environment. All great historical events can be traced back to a series of political decisions, which were either done by the ruling political option or its opposition. The main purpose of this short article is to present the underlying realities of that what is considered political, and also to give a critique of the present state and define its anomalies and irregularities

Why economists REALLY got it wrong...

D'oh!

Is the Fed really considering this maniacal path, or are the PD's just bullying for more QE business?

I know some company executives may be a little pissed at me for revealing what I see as weaknesses in their opertations. Please let it be known that I am quite fair and do not have an axe to grind or set agenda, other than the dissemination of the truth. I can do this since I am truly independent and disinterested and can take any side of a trade. I do not have clients that I need to appease, or consituents that I need to bend the truth for. With that being said...

A question for you. Can gold move up against a basket of currencies? If it does what does it mean for Bernanke and the
QE party? Drink up, it's coming to last call. Seven years ago Bernanke said that the Fed would never print money 'willy-nilly'. The gold market thinks he did.

My own views on fundamental indexing is that it has merits but it also has limitations.
Sure, AP2 will not suffer the same drawdowns as other pensions during bad years, but it will also not participate as much on the upside during good years.